Hearings Set On Chrin Landfill Closure Order

A state Environmental Hearing Board judge has scheduled 19 days of hearings running from May through mid-July on the Chrin landfill's appeal of a state closure order issued last summer.

Judge Anthony J. Mazullo Jr. will accept testimony on the landfill's appeal of the state Department of Environmental Resources (DER) closure order and will also take testimony on a second landfill appeal that asks the board to compel DER to act on its seven-year-old expansion application.

The current version of the expansion application asks permission to install a 10-acre lined facility immediately to the east of the current landfill. The original expansion application proposed a natural renovation site which would have used the soils under the landfill to cleanse contaminants from water after it seeped through the waste pile. The current active landfill is a natural renovation site.

In late December, Mazullo granted the landfill owners a reprieve by allowing them to continue operations pending the resolution of their appeal of the closure order. The DER order called for a halt to dumping at the Williams Township site last Dec. 31 as well as numerous corrective measures. At that time, landfill representatives said the site had about two years of capacity left at current filling rates.

According to DER attorney James Morris, the hearings are set for May 6-7 and 9-10; June 3-4 and 24-28, and July 1-3 and 15-19.

Easton attorney Nicholas Noel, who represents seven Easton-area municipalities and organizations intervening in the appeal on the side of the landfill, said there is a good chance the sessions may be held in the old U.S. Federal District courtroom on the second floor of the Easton post office.

Morris said Mazullo is scheduled to issue a clarifying order in the near future on the nature of the hearings and on whether he will consolidate both landfill appeals as requested by Chrin attorney William Eastburn of Doylestown.

Morris said DER and Save Our Lehigh Valley Environment (SOLVE), a township-based group opposed to the landfill expansion, are opposed to consolidating the two appeals. Morris said the two appeals are separate issues and added he is considering filing a motion to dismiss the second appeal that seeks action on the expansion application.

DER has said it will not consider an expansion until the current site is closed in conformance with state regulations.

SOLVE attorney Robert Hernan said the group he represents wants afinal ruling on the first DER closure order appeal so SOLVE can appeal, if necessary, to state Commonwealth Court. Hernan said if the matter is not ruled on seperately, the landfill may reach capacity before an appeal can be initiated, making the group's effort to stop the landfill operation moot.

Noel maintained the issues in the two appeals are intertwined. "A lot of the same facts will be discussed," he said. Noel added consolidating the two appeals would shorten the litigation period. He said if the appeals are taken separately, the landfill could very well reach capacity before the entire issue is resolved.

Landfill representatives have proposed a "master plan" for the Industrial Drive site that includes waste-to-energy and methane gas recovery facilities in addition to the lined expansion that would be dedicated to accepting ash from the waste-to-energy plant. Some type of recycling facility is also envisioned.

Eastburn said yesterday the master plan will be expanded on in the upcoming hearings.